Handsprings and Aerials
by DarkScales
Summary: An obstacle course, a fistbump, and revelations. Reveal fic, Fistbumps Verse part one. Pre-series.
1. Handsprings and Aerials

**So. Um. Two short oneshots for one fandom in the same day? Unheard of, I know! But inspiration hit after seeing a couple posts by thelastpilot and jazztastic-panda on Tumblr, this somehow happened. It's short, not that great, but I figured I'd put it out there anyways. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own, wish I did, etc. Can't wait for the show to start airing in English this December!**

 **Edit 11-5-15: added a few sentences, shifting a paragraph around, did some minor edits. I gotta say, I've been a bit overwhelmed by how nice this fandom is! So much attention for just this short little fic! You guys are all awesome! :D**

* * *

"An obstacle course?" Marinette asked, taking in the sight of the equipment stretching all the way across the gym. "What's this for?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's supposed to be like a big finish to our gymnastics unit or something?" Alya wondered, walking up to stand next to her friend. She frowned as she glanced over it, brow furrowed. "Wow. That looks… _really_ hard."

If Marinette wasn't regularly pulling off acrobatic stunts across the Parisian rooftops that would make any gymnast green with envy every night, she might have agreed. As it was, the course merely looked mildly difficult. Somewhat challenging, but not impossible. Besides, it wasn't as if there was going to be an akuma to fight in the middle of it, either. At least, she sincerely hoped not...

Behind them, there was an aggravated groan as Nino came up to stand beside Alya. Adrien rounded out the group a few seconds later, looking unfairly attractive even in a PE uniform. Marinette tried not to stare too obviously. She didn't think she entirely succeeded.

"Oh, this looks like it might be fun," Adrien commented as he saw what everyone was looking at. He didn't appear all that worried, probably because he was so fit from fencing.

" _Fun?!_ " Nino squeaked. "Dude, you think this is gonna be _fun?!_ It's gonna be torture, that's what it is!"

Adrien laughed at him. "Relax, Nino," he replied. "You'll be fine."

* * *

Nino wasn't fine. Neither was anyone else, actually.

The teacher had decided that this would be a partnered activity. Two people at a time. The idea was that they helped each other finish the obstacle course in less than ten minutes. It wasn't _that_ large, after all, even if it was fiendishly complicated.

Nobody managed to do it. Everyone either fell off, went over the time limit, or both. The closest anyone had come was nearly three quarters of the way through, and even that had taken a good fifteen minutes.

Finally, there was only one pair left: Marinette and Adrien. She had nearly swooned when the teacher announced that they would be partners. However, it was quickly overtaken by near-crippling nervousness. What if she messed up? What if she tripped and fell or, worse, tripped _him_ and fell? What if she slowed him down? What if, what if, what if?

"You'll be fine!" Tikki assured her, the tiny sprite hidden away but still close enough to make herself heard. "Don't worry; you do stuff like this every night! Just pretend you're in costume and everything's going to go great!"

 _Easier said than done,_ Marinette thought, poised at the starting line. She closed her eyes and regulated her breathing as the teacher counted down, trying to slip into her Ladybug mindset. _I can do this. I fight akuma every other week. I do backflips a hundred feet in the air without a safety net. This is_ nothing _compared to that._

The teacher blew the whistle. Marinette's eyes snapped open. Smirking to herself, she _bolted_.

* * *

Adrien really hadn't expected her to be that quick. Marinette? The shy, sweet girl who couldn't say two words to him without stuttering or tripping over herself? No way. He had expected to have to all but carry through the course.

Except, the moment that whistle had been blown, she'd taken off like a shot. Adrien was momentarily caught flat-footed. She was _fast!_ It took him a moment to catch up, and by that point, they had reached the first obstacle.

Marinette didn't even balk at the wall, instead scrambling up like she was a squirrel or something. Adrien bounded to the top a moment later, unable to help the exhilarated grin that spread across his face. Finally, someone who could keep up with him besides Ladybug!

The pair shared a glance, took a second to survey the course from their vantage point, and then dove into it as one.

* * *

All things considered, Marinette and Adrien worked _incredibly_ well together. Their every action was eerily synchronized, each mirroring the other's movements like they'd been doing it for years. Marinette had completely switched to Ladybug mode, and Adrien felt like he was Chat Noir flipping jauntily across the rooftops. Adrien, who was taller, helped pull Marinette up the hanging rope ladder to the next platform. Marinette, who was more watchful, guided them through the quickest path through a patch of three-dimensional, criss-crossing ropes.

Much to the surprise (as well as the jealousy) of their classmates, the pair were obviously having fun and somehow even making it look easy. They moved with a certain fluidity and grace that could only have come from long hours of practice, both jointly and apart. When had _that_ happened? Since when had Marinette even been capable of so much as a coherent sentence to Adrien's face? Since when had Adrien ever been that open, been that carefree and remarkably at ease? Since when had any of _that_ ever been a thing?

Oblivious to her classmates' thoughts, Marinette couldn't help but let out a breathless laugh as she did a handspring over a series of horizontal bars. As they dashed up a ramp towards a large gap between platforms, Adrien pulled ahead and didn't even pause before doing an aerial across. She mimicked it perfectly, and he laughed even as he leapt across a series of teetering logs. Marinette blew past him when they got platform riddled with holes like swiss cheese, avoiding the overhanging planks of wood with a near-boneless duck and _twist-_

The pair of them got so caught up in it all they didn't even realize when they started bantering, so comfortable as Ladybug and Chat Noir they forgot they weren't actually in costume.

"You're so slow!" Marinette called playfully as Adrien nearly slipped on a massive rolling sphere. She herself was balanced lightly on her toes atop a wall barely three inches across, knees bent and muscles poised for action. "Careful, don't want to hurt yourself!"

"Don't worry, I always land on my feet!" Adrien replied, tone cheeky. A second later he landed beside her, crouched on all fours to absorb the impact before rising. Leaping ahead, he tossed back, "You're the one who shouldn't stop, or you're gonna get left behind!"

"Eh?!" Marinette shouted faux-indignantly as they just about danced across a net of ropes, easily finding purchase without either of them even having to think about it. "We'll see about that!"

She leapt up, grabbing a horizontal bar and swinging herself around, then tucking into a flip as she landed lightly on top of a narrow pillar. A second one next to it became Adrien's perch, the teens balancing themselves as easily as if they'd been on solid ground rather than almost ten feet up.

"Wow," Alya whispered, wishing she had her phone so she could film it. "Marinette is _good._ "

"I didn't think Adrien was that acrobatic," Nino commented, eyes wide. "I thought he did fencing, not gymnastics!"

Standing on the sidelines, even the teacher could only gape.

* * *

Nine minutes flat.

 _Nine. Minutes. Flat._

"I think that's a new record," the teacher said blankly, staring at her stopwatch like it had suddenly grown wings and was about to fly away. "That's- wow. Nobody's _ever_ been that fast. I don't know if even _I_ could do it that fast!"

Adrien laughed, and so did Marinette, and they didn't even think about it before they turned to each other for a fistbump. "Mission accomplished," they chorused- and froze.

The teens stared at each other in disbelief.

 _No. Way._


	2. Revelations and Confessions

**Um. So. I got a bunch of people asking me for a continuation on Tumblr, and even though this was marked as completed, I sort of wrote one anyways? And now it's going to be a series of oneshots/scenes/snippets? And I've already started calling it the Fistbump Verse in my head? And it's probably going to be an Identities Known AU combined with an Established Relationship AU for the entire show, with this fic being pre-series? Um. Yeah. Oops. Yes** **I make terrible life choices somebody stop me now. :P**

 **HUGE THANKS to ilarual, Krazyfanfiction1, BLA, bleedingnightingale, Winter Coma, Jessica Jayme Bell, guro000, Le Chasseur, FutureMageOtaku99, and review here for reviewing! Holy crud, ten reviews for a little thousand-word ficlet?! That's amazing! This fandom is so great! :D**

 **To ilarural: Welcome to the fandom! Glad you liked the fic! :)**

 **To Winter Coma: Aw, thanks! I'm flattered! Alas, as if it would ever happen this way... the writers will probably make it huge and dramatic and in the middle of the final battle or something. I can't wait until it happens in canon!**

 **To guro000: I'm glad you enjoyed the fic! I don't know how to read a word of Japanese, but according to a translating site those characters were mostly laughter, I think? It sounded good. Glad you liked it!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own, etc etc etc. Enjoy the fic, and feel free to send a PM or leave a review telling me what was good and what was terrible! :)**

 **Edit 10-31-15: added in a couple paragraphs, fiddled with Marinette's reaction a bit. Huge thanks to Minirowan for pointing out what was off with Marinette's dialogue!**

* * *

" _You're_ Chat Noir?!" Marinette all but shrieked, the two of them sequestered away behind the gym. She'd dragged him out there the moment class ended, much to the confusion of both Alya and Nino. Luckily for the two superheroes, it was lunch, so they had plenty of time to work things out.

...Assuming Marinette didn't hyperventilate, of course. Or pass out completely. Either one would have been very much not good.

"Um," Adrien said blankly, still trying to wrap his mind around _Marinette_ plus _Ladybug_ and somehow make them equivalent. "Yes?"

He didn't know how he could have missed it. As superheroes, they spent a good chunk of time together every day, and they'd been meeting fairly regularly for a few months now. Perhaps it wasn't that long in the scheme of things, but still. He'd met Ladybug even before he had ever laid eyes on Marinette. _How_ in the world hadn't he noticed?

"How is that possible?" Marinette asked, more for herself than anything else. "How- how could I have missed this? How did I never notice?!" She unconsciously mirrored his own thoughts, tone utterly shocked. She looked up at Adrien, eyes wide and somehow frantic. "You're _Adrien_. How can you also be _Chat?_ "

Plagg chose that moment to pop out of Adrien's bag, flying right up to Marinette.

"Well, I certainly help," he said dryly, nibbling on a small wedge of cheese. Waving with one paw, he looked down at the small purse hanging at Marinette's hip and greeted, "Hey, Tikki! Long time no see!"

The top of the bag opened, a small red kwami with two waving antennae instead of ears emerging from inside. She stopped and hovered just in front of Plagg, the two little sprites right between Adrien and Marinette.

"Hi, Plagg!" Tikki cheerfully waved back in response. "Wow, it's been a long time." She turned back to Marinette, pointing at Plagg. "Don't try to deny it, Marinette! There's your proof that Adrien really is Chat!"

Adrien couldn't help but stare. Tikki… so that was Ladybug's kwami. She certainly looked the part, colored bright red with a large black spot on her forehead. Just as Plagg's presence was irrefutable proof that he was Chat Noir, Tikki's presence dashed any lingering disbelief on the subject of shy, clumsy Marinette being Ladybug.

"You're Ladybug," Adrien said. He couldn't seem to muster up anything more complicated than that, still somewhat in shock. " _You're_ Ladybug?"

"Yes, I am," Marinette sighed, resignation clear in her tone. She frowned, shoulders drawing in on herself as she looked up at him. "Are you… disappointed?"

"What?!" That was enough to snap Adrien out of his thoughts, shocked. "No, of course not! Why would I be?"

"I don't know." Marinette furrowed her brow, expression becoming somewhat melancholy. "I mean, I'm just me. Ordinary, boring, clumsy Marinette. I'm not famous like you. Or rich, or popular, or-"

"So?" Adrien interrupted, because even if he was still trying to figure out what the heck was going on he could still recognize the glaring falsehoods his partner seemed to believe. "I'm not- I'm not that great, really. I have almost no social life, I'm not actually very good with people, and I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time. I'm not a good designer like you either, and I always smell like cheese because Plagg's obsessed with the stuff. I don't even _like_ cheese," he added plaintively. "But now Nino thinks I love it so he keeps giving me his mozzerella sticks, and I can't say no because then he'll ask why don't I like cheese if I always smell like it, and-"

Adrien was rambling, and he knew it, but once he had started he couldn't seem to stop. The words tumbled over themselves in a barely coherent mess, even as he gradually became aware of what he was actually doing. He talked and talked and talked, somehow moving from his own faults to the other teen's strengths as both as a superhero and a civilian.

"But you're really pretty and really cool both as Ladybug and Marinette, and it shouldn't matter because you're the same person anyways," he finished somewhat lamely. Then his brain caught up to his mouth and he smacked his forehead, groaning. "Oh _no_ did I actually just say all that? I didn't mean to say the cheese stuff. Shoot. Um. I'm not good at this."

Adrien's jaws snapped together, teeth meeting with a sharp _clack_ as he shut up before the hole he was digging himself got any deeper. Face burning with embarrassment, he mentally went over the last few seconds of life and promptly decided that time travel was going to be a thing. Yes. It was. He knew it existed because of Timebreaker; now he just needed to figure out how to use it because _crap_ that been a mortifying spiel.

(Plagg wouldn't stop laughing in the background. Adrien studiously ignored him.)

Awkward silence fell. Adrien fidgeted. Marinette had the strangest expression on her face, like she was torn between breaking down in a fit of laughter or imploding from sheer confusion. At length, she seemed to decide on the laughter option. On one hand, this was a relief, because Adrien did _not_ know how to deal with breakdowns of any sort unless they were his own. And even then, his solution was usually something along the lines of, "hide in a corner and disappear until it goes away and then forget it ever happened". That… probably wasn't healthy, now that he thought about it.

On the other hand, he wasn't entirely sure why she (his classmate and the girl he'd been pining after for _months_ holy _crap_ ) was laughing at him. What had he said? Had he done something wrong? No, then she wouldn't be laughing. Wait, maybe it was the cheese. She was probably laughing at the cheese. Oh no, now she was going to think he was a total _idiot_ because he'd gone and just blurted stuff out with zero brain-to-mouth filter whatsoever-

"Sorry, sorry," Marinette gasped, a wavering grin stretching across her face, "but for a second, you sounded just like me whenever _I_ talked to _you._ I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh, but- it reminded me of myself." She looked him up and down appraisingly. "Wow. I guess you really do look like Chat, huh."

Well, when in doubt, fall back on the tried-and-true method of acting completely cool. "Yup, that's me," Adrien agreed, putting on a flirtatious smirk as he added, "My Lady."

"I- wow. _Wow,_ " Marinette laughed, breathless. "This is really weird. And really sudden. I've actually had a crush on you for ages," she admitted, looking slightly surprised by herself even as it came out. "That's part of why I never, um, acted like I liked you back as Chat Noir. I was holding out for you. Adrien. Ironically enough." She paused, and tacked on, "But once, I thought that, maybe if I had met Chat first…"

Adrien blinked. Registered what she was actually saying. His jaw dropped once it all computed, disbelief at the sheer _ridiculousness_ of the whole situation rendering him momentarily dumbstruck.

"W-wait," he sputtered once he regained his voice, " _you_ had a crush on _me?_ But you didn't know I was Chat, and even though I really liked you back, I didn't know you were Ladybug, so-" he cut himself off, burying his head in his hands as he dissolved into helpless laughter at the convoluted mess everything had become. "Oh man, it's like we've been living in some sort of reality television show this entire time!"

"It does feel sort of like that," Marinette agreed, giggling. However, before they could speak further, the pair were interrupted by the sounds of their stomachs growling in unison.

"...Um," Marinette ventured, face going pink, "do you want to, uh, come and have lunch at the bakery with me? We can talk more there. Um. If you want. You don't have to."

Adrien didn't even need to think about it before he grinned in response, slipping into the more casual personality of Chat Noir. It was relief, if he was going to be honest, to finally act more like himself. Adrien was more the mask than Chat, and he was glad that he could now be natural around the only other person who truly understood.

"I would be honored, My Lady," Adrien replied with a grin. His heart beat a rapid staccato in his chest, a hammering beat in the background that only he could hear. His palms became sweaty, somehow even this simple interaction making him infinitely more nervous than any death-defying stunt he performed as one of Paris' superpowered protectors.

What made this so much more nerve-wracking, he wondered? Was it because she was inviting him over to what was essentially her home? Was it finally knowing that Ladybug- no, Marinette -acknowledged and even reciprocated his feelings? Maybe it was one of those, or even all of them combined. He wasn't sure. All he knew was that he couldn't let her go, not now when they had found each other at last.

They'd work something out, he figured, unable to wipe the ear-to-ear grin off his face as he followed Marinette out of the school and down the city's streets. After all, they were Ladybug and Chat Noir. Paris' most famous duo of heroes. They fought supervillains on a regular basis. They were a team, and they would always stick together.

A simple discussion about feelings and what to do next? While as their regular, civilian selves? It would be a piece of cake.

(He hoped, anyways.)


End file.
